2024 NHL Skills Competition Preview & Picks

The NHL All-Star Skills Competition will take place on Friday, February 2nd at 7:00 PM ET. It will take place at the home of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Scotiabank Arena. ESPN will have the broadcast in the States while Sportsnet will have the broadcast in Canada.

This year Skills Competition has a new look with 12 NHL All-Stars competing for a $1 million (USD) winner-take-all prize.

The twelve skaters are as follows:

• David Pastrnak (Boston Bruins)
• Nathan MacKinnon (Colorado Avalanche)
• Cale Makar (Colorado Avalanche)
• Connor McDavid (Edmonton Oilers)
• Leon Draisaitl (Edmonton Oilers)
• Jack Hughes (New Jersey)
• Matthew Barzal (New York Islanders)
• Nikita Kucherov (Tampa Bay Lightning)
• Auston Matthews (Toronto Maple Leafs)
• William Nylander (Toronto Maple Leafs)
• Quinn Hughes (Vancouver Canucks)
• J.T. Miller (Vancouver Canucks)
• Elias Pettersson (Vancouver Canucks)

The 12 NHL All-Stars in the skills competition each will compete in four of the first six events: the Fastenal NHL Fastest Skater, Rogers NHL Hardest Shot, Upper Deck NHL Stick Handling, Tim Hortons NHL One Timers, Scotiabank NHL Passing Challenge, and Cheetos NHL Accuracy Shooting. First place will be worth five points, second place four points, and so on.

The top eight will advance to the seventh event, the Honda NHL Shootout. The top six will advance to the final event: the Pepsi NHL Obstacle Course, which will include all skills and worth double the points. First place is 10 points, second place eight points, and so on.

Be sure to tune in on Twitter (@GatorBetting) for a more complex breakdown of the event as I’ll be going live around 5 PM!

 

Here is the past performances of all of the 12 skaters competing in the Skills Challenge.

 

Fastenal NHL Fastest Skater

• Participants/ Odds (FanDuel):
  • Connor McDavid (+120)
  • Mathew Barzal (+220)
  • Cale Makar (+400)
  • William Nylander (+1000)
  • Quinn Hughes (+1000)

• Winner:
  • Player with the fastest time

• Procedure/ Rules:
  • The course is one full rink lap.
  • Each player has one attempt to establish their time.
  • Skater may choose direction of their lap.
  • Skater is positioned a maximum of three feet behind the start line located on the penalty box side of the centre line.
  • Skater starts on the referee’s whistle.
  • The timing device starts when the skater crosses the start line.
  • In case of a clock malfunction, the official time will be recorded from the official’s stopwatch.

• Preview:

 

Tim Hortons NHL One-Timers

• Participants/ Odds (FanDuel):
  • Auston Matthews (+500)
  • David Pastrnak (+500)
  • Nikita Kucherov (+550)
  • Elias Pettersson (+600)
  • Nathan MacKinnon (+600)
  • Leon Draisaitl (+600)
  • J.T. Miller (+650)
  • Mathew Barzal (+700)

• Winner:
  • Player with the most points

• Procedure/ Rules:
  • Passer to make passes from a predetermined position.
  • Player to shoot 3 one timers from each of the 3 designated shot positions.
  • Player will receive a maximum of 5 passes at each position to make their maximum 3 attempts.
  • Points are awarded based on the placement of the puck in the net.
  • Clock starts on official’s whistle.
  • Maximum time allowed is one minute to take all nine shots.
  • If a player breaks his stick the one-minute clock will be stopped, a new stick will be provided, and the shot will be replayed.
  • Four points earned if the shot goes in the upper slot, three points if shot goes in either of the side triangular slots, two points if the shot goes in the net, but not either of the 3 designated slots, one point if the shot hits one of the bars in the net and no points if the shot misses the net, ricochets off the net frame or hits the lower barrier.

• Preview:

There’s not much information available on the NHL website or NHL Edge regarding One-timers statistics. However, the All Three Zones Project does have a stat to quantify One-timers (One-timers per 60). Looking at their Data, David Pastrnak jumps out which makes sense. He’s usually locked on the wall for Boston’s Power Play and has shown countless times that he’s one of the best in the leagues and getting the puck off his stick quickly. Kucherov is another guy that I like in this competition for similar reasons.

• Pick(s):

David Pastrnak (+500)

Nikita Kucherov (+550)

 

Scotiabank NHL Passing Challenge

• Participants/ Odds (FanDuel):
  • Connor McDavid (+750)
  • Cale Makar (+750)
  • Nikita Kucherov (+750)
  • Leon Draisaitl (+750)
  • William Nylander (+850)
  • Elias Pettersson (+850)
  • Quinn Hughes (+850)
  • Nathan MacKinnon (+850)
  • Auston Matthews (+950)
  • J.T. Miller (+950)
  • Matthew Barzal (+950)

• Winner:
  • Player with the most points

• Procedure/ Rules:
  • Player begins at either end of the rink behind the net.
  • Player has 45 seconds to complete 11 passes.
  • Targets will be placed in clusters on both sides of the rink.
  • Each of the 3 targets in a cluster will have different point values (1, 2, or 3).
  • Player will follow a set course and attempt passes at each of the 5 clusters.
  • Each successful pass earns the point value associated with the target hit.
  • The first 5 passes will be made from a path running from crease to crease and the player must remain within the path when making their pass. Officials to indicate to a player if they are moving offside.
  • A successful pass made by a player outside the path will not receive the point value of the target hit.
  • Passes 6 – 11 are from the face-off dot opposite to a cluster of targets at each end of the rink.
  • Players may not pass a puck after the 45 second clock has expired, but a puck in motion will be counted.
  • The accumulated points will stand for any player who “times out”.
  • Clock starts on official’s whistle.

• Preview:

Makar and Hughes are both puck-moving defensemen who have shown they can make those breakout passes in tight spaces. Makar and Hughes currently rank in the top 5 for assists this season. I’m also adding Nylander in this competition as well based on his skill set.

• Pick(s):

Cale Makar (+750)

Quinn Hughes (+850)

William Nylander (+850)

 

Rogers NHL Hardest Shot

• Participants/ Odds (FanDuel):
  • Elias Pettersson (+175)
  • Cale Makar (+320)
  • J.T. Miller (+340)
  • Auston Matthews (+450)
  • David Pastrnak (+650)

• Winner:
  • Player who records the fastest speed

• Procedure/ Rules:
  • Two attempts for each player.
  • A single puck is positioned on the ice 30 feet from the center of the goal. A player, starting no further than the nearest blue line, may skate towards the puck and shoot it from its positioned spot into the goal.
  • Shots must be on goal to be calculated and all shots are recorded by the NHL puck tracking system.
  • If a puck enters the goal uncalculated due to a malfunction of the data capture, the shooter will be allowed an additional attempt.
  • If a player breaks their stick, they will be given another attempt.

• Preview

Based on the 2023-24 NHL Edge stats, Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller are the only players in the competition to register a shot this season over 97 mph.  However, I think Pettersson will repeat and win this event again.

• Pick(s):

Elias Pettersson (+175)

Upper Deck NHL Stick Handling

• Participants/ Odds (FanDuel):
  • Connor McDavid (+500)
  • Nathan MacKinnon (+550)
  • David Pastrnak (+600)
  • William Nylander (+600)
  • Mathew Barzal (+650)
  • Nikita Kucherov (+650)
  • Leon Draisaitl (+750)
  • Elias Pettersson (+850)
  • Quinn Hughes (+950)

• Winner:
  • Player with the fastest time

• Procedure/ Rules:
  • Player to complete the following;
    • Stickhandling – Player controls the puck through a series of twenty pucks.
    • Cone Course – Player with a puck, skates forwards and backwards around a series of 4 cones.
    • Toe Drag – Player to carry the puck on the outside of the barrier and execute the toe drag around the 2^nd barrier in front of the net and take a shot on goal
  • Clock starts on official’s whistle.
  • Player must maintain possession of puck at all times while completing the course or the player will be instructed to go back to the puck or cone that was missed to complete the skill.
  • Each skill must be completed before moving on to the next skill. Official whistles/signals completion of each skill.
  • Event ends when puck enters the goal net.

• Pick(s):

Mathew Barzal (+650)

Quinn Hughes (+950)

 

Cheetos NHL Accuracy Shooting

• Participants/ Odds (FanDuel):
  • Leon Draisaitl (+600)
  • David Pastrnak (+600)
  • Connor McDavid (+600)
  • Nikita Kucherov (+600)
  • Auston Matthews (+700)
  • Nathan MacKinnon (+800)
  • William Nylander (+800)
  • J.T. Miller (+850)
  • Cale Makar (+1200)
  • Quinn Hughes (+1200)

• Winner:
  • Player with the fastest time

• Procedure/ Rules:
  • Four destructible styrofoam targets 15 inches in diameter are attached to the goal posts, one target in each corner.
  • Two players, one on each side of the net, alternately pass pucks to a shooter positioned 25 feet out from the goal line.
  • Clock starts on official’s whistle.
  • Shooters compete at both ends of the rink, alternating attempts.
  • Any contact of a target by a puck that is shot is scored as a hit.
  • Clock stops when player has successfully hit all four targets.

• Pick(s):

Connor McDavid (+600)

Nathan MacKinnon (+800)

 

Best of luck, and as always you can find me on Twitter @GatorBetting and Instagram @Gator_Sports_Betting. Any feedback whether positive or negative is always encouraged.